Sticks & Stones
by WhosSeenJezebel
Summary: In the middle of the woods, far from civilization, two agents are forced to fight for their lives before a sadistic Unsub catches up to them. Established H/P.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I have half of 'The Third' written, but it's on my old computer. Until I can get everything off of the hard drive, I won't post anything else for that story. It should be up and going again in about a week!**

 **This plot has been bouncing around in my head for a while now. It's almost a little OOC, in the sense that Hotch and Prentiss are in an Established relationship. I'm trying to keep them as in character as possible, but it's a little tricky as I'm sure most of you know. PLEASE let me know if there is anything that rubs you the wrong way or that seems WAY to far-fetched. I don't want to do any disservice to the show!**

 **THERE IS NO MOLLY IN THIS STORY. I don't think people really enjoyed my little OC, so I plan on keeping her out of this particular story. You could say that it's in the same universe, but there will be no mention of her.**

 **Please read and review! It really does help!**

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

He never really knew that it was possible to actually _hear_ pain-to taste it...to smell it. But when he opened his eyes and rolled over onto his right side, all of his senses were assaulted with the sensation of pure agony.

His cheek-coated with sweat-picked up flakes of dry leaves and bark when it brushed against the ground. With a loud groan he maneuvered himself onto his back again. The gray sky was almost entirely hidden beneath the dark treetops that loomed from above.

It was early evening.

A whimper from his left reminded him that he was not alone. "Emily?" He gasped, coughing from the strain on his lungs. "Oh...God...Emily? Are you okay?" He rolled his head over to look at her.

She looked as bad as he felt. Blood coated the side of her face and flowed freely from her nose and lower lip. Bruises adorned her beautiful neck and left eye-nearly swelling it shut. Her blue jacket was torn along the left arm revealing a deep gash.

Whimpering, Agent Prentiss forced a nod. "I think I'm okay."

A lie. A huge lie.

She felt like death was on its way to punch her in the face and drag her into the pits of hell.

Aaron's snort told her that he was thinking the exact same thing.

For minutes, they lay there. In the cool clearing of the forest, listening only to each other's breathing and the pitter patter of rain bouncing from the leaves to the earth. Every now and then, the 'caw' of a bird would come just before it would swoop past their eyes.

When the pain began to fade into the recesses of her mind, Emily reached her arm out and dropped it across Hotch's chest.

"What the hell happened?"

/\\\\\/\\\\\

 **Two Days Earlier**

"Well, this looks familiar." Derek commented, taking in the photos being projected onto the screen.

It had actually been something they'd seen quite a bit over the years, given their occupation. Humans hunting humans. It was different from serial killers who sought out an individual in their private home. Of course, there was no killer that was better than another.

But there was something about people hunting down people in ways that would be too cruel for any animal, which had the team on edge.

"Yes darling." Garcia tapped the top of her friend's head with her remote. "Just like our sickie-sick brothers from Idaho, we have an even sicker...sick...sicko...in Minnesota."

"His victimology appears to be mostly white middle-aged adults." Rossi observed by looking at the photos of the four victims.

"It's possible that these are just victims of circumstance." Hotch said. "These were all individuals who had been hiking with a larger group and were somehow separated. It's doubtful that he would be picky enough to stick to a specific race or gender."

The first kill occurred six months prior. It had been a gentleman fresh out of grad school. He had been hiking with some friends he'd gone to high school with when he suddenly disappeared from the trail. A week and a half later, he was discovered hanging from a tree hundreds of miles from where he'd last been seen. It was obviously a suicide, but the strange wounds covering his body suggested foul play.

A week later a woman camping with her family was taken in the middle of the night. It only took park rangers a week to find her. She'd been shot through the head with a crossbow.

After that, it was another woman, bludgeoned to death with something blunt. She was discovered in a cave less than a mile from the trail she'd been hiking on with her husband and dogs.

The latest victim was a local cop. He had been investigating the mysterious deaths with his team. He had been abducted, but the Unsub let him keep his gun and mace. Throughout the three week search, his men could hear distant shots being fired, but they didn't find him until it was too late. Wolves had gotten to his body first, but from what remained, it was obvious that he had undergone the same amount of torture as the others.

"It looks like I'm going to need to go home and get my hiking shoes." Dave mused, running his finger along the large topographic map spread out between Spencer and himself. "Something tells me that my Oxfords won't be rugged enough for this trip."

"No they won't." Hotch muttered. "Everyone get home and pack your warmest clothes. It's still winter up there and odds are we won't be staying in the Sheridan. Wheels up at noon."

/\\\\\/\\\\\

They'd been living together for less than a month now.

Emily's clothes had taken up more than half of his closet and they'd had to get a whole new dresser to accommodate the rest. But Aaron wasn't complaining.

He got to wake up every morning wrapped around the love of his life. In fact, he got to spend every minute of every day with her. And while that may have been too much for some people, it wasn't nearly enough for him. He loathed going to sleep at night because it meant he would have to go six to eight hours without seeing her.

"Have you seen my fleece jacket?" Her voice came from beneath the bed. "The one...the one with the elbow patches."

"What color is it?" He was just zipping up his larger Go-Bag. Normally he just needed the one small duffel to accommodate his three shirts and undershirts, three pairs of pants, two sets of boxers, and all of his toiletries. But now he was bringing the same amount of clothing, plus outerwear and heavy duty boots.

Emily huffed and yanked the Tupperware container out from its hiding spot under the bed frame. "Either navy...or cream..."

"You don't know?" He quirked a brow and rounded the mattress to pull her to her feet and lift the box to set on top of the comforter. He popped the lid off and grabbed a handful of her winter clothes from inside. "The more layers the better."

He handed her the pile of thermal and flannel undershirts. Emily never really caught cold. She was very cautious in regards to germs and practically bathed in hand sanitizer every flu season. In the years that he'd known her, she had only gotten sick once, and that had been a doozy. They both wanted to avoid it happening again.

Hotch yanked a quilted fleece jacket-navy blue with cream elbow patches- from the bottom of the container. "Is this it?"

She beamed and nodded. "Yes!" Taking it from him, she slipped it on over her black button down shirt. It clashed with the black ensemble, but she didn't care. She was running out of room in her bag and the jet was always cold. It was better to just wear the thing now.

Aaron smiled fondly as he watched her finish up. She had stuffed the stack of clothes he'd handed to her inside of the bag-twice as big as his-and tied her hiking boots to the outside straps. Her bathroom bag was a separate floral tote that she'd gotten from Garcia for her birthday. It was large also, but it held her curling iron, blow dryer, shower products, and makeup.

Normally she packed the bare minimum-his Emily was _not_ high maintenance-but they were going to be staying in a cabin on the outskirts of the Superior National Forest. He'd be surprised if they even had hot water there.

"Do you have a heavy coat too?" He picked up her bag as well as his own. "The highs are in the teens in the city. The mountains might get into the negatives at sundown."

Emily cringed and dashed into the closet. A moment later she emerged with one of his giant jackets-the camel colored leather one with a fleece lining. She had gotten it for him that Christmas, but so far she had worn it more than him.

"It's warmer than mine." She defended herself, slipping it over her arm and snatching up her bathroom bag before he could add it to his load.

"As long as you're warm." He responded, kissing the top of her head before heading out of their bedroom. "Now let's move. We're meeting the team in twenty."

/

 **Present**

Once they were both able to swallow their discomfort, it took them less than five minutes to climb to their feet.

Emily walked back and forth between two trees to get her legs re-circulated, while Hotch took in their surroundings.

They were on a small slope surrounded by pines, hemlocks, and other species he recognized but couldn't name. Behind the trees he could see the outline of the mountains in the distance, half-covered by the misting rain and heavy clouds.

"Emily." He called, turning to her and holding out his arms. He needed to hold her right now. It wasn't that he was just afraid (which, he most certainly was). He was exhausted, and Emily would keep him focused. She would remind him that it wasn't just him out there. He had her as well.

They had each other.

"I'm so sorry." He heard her whimper as she rushed forward into his embrace. She tucked her head, still bleeding tumultuously, beneath his chin and dug her fingers into his back. "I'm sorry."

Shocked, Aaron buried his fingers into the hair on the back of her head. "This _isn't_ your fault." He insisted, not leaving any room for argument. "This was going to happen no matter what."

"But-"

"No." He kissed the edge of her head wound fiercely. He wished it was like one of Jack's tiny scratches-the ones he acquired when falling off of his 'Big Boy Bike'-that immediately felt better with a kiss. Then he would have pressed his lips to every inch of her visible alabaster skin. "We won't discuss this any further. Understood Agent?"

Her lips tightened into an affectionate smile. He wasn't ordering her around. He was keeping her emotions in check. That's what she needed right now. "Understood." She whispered, sniffling and kissing his stubbled jawline.

"Now." Hotch tightened his hold on her before slowly releasing her. "Let's get moving. It looks like we only have a few hours before the hunt begins."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: There will probably be a few chapters with the lead up for now. I'd rather catch up to the hunt storyline a little more before really getting into it. I'll try to be quicker with the updates. I won't be getting my laptop back from the shop for another week or so, so I've started re-writing the rest of 'The Third'. I'll post to each story as the muses hit me!**

 **I own nothing.**

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

" _...it is easy not to believe in monsters, considerably more difficult to escape their dread and loathsome clutches."_  
 _― Stanisław Lem_

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

 **42 Hours Earlier**

The second they stepped of the jet, they were assaulted with a blast of icy wind. There wasn't any snow on the ground, but the frigid, damp air was a definite foreshadowing.

Emily and JJ wrapped their arms around one another while walking briskly towards the closer of the two SUVs parked across the tarmac. Their hair whipped around their pink faces, muffling their irritated mumbles about the fifth cold location they'd been sent to in a row.

Besides the drive through Texas the month prior, their team had been stuck with cases in the North. Maine, Connecticut, Oregon, Montana, and now, Minnesota.

Grand Marais, Minnesota-or just outside of it. Lake Superior was only a few steps away, so it was the major donor of the biting cold. According to their pilot, the evening's temperature was 22 degrees-which was a few higher than The Weather Channel had predicted.

Hotch gave his female agents a tight smile as he hopped into the driver's seat. They were huddled in the back, wrapping themselves in the fleece blankets that Emily had smuggled from the jet.

"Are we having fun yet?" Rossi rubbed his hands together in the next seat while motioning with a sharp head bob for his friend to start the engine. "We can't just _wish_ the heat on Aaron."

Swallowing a chuckle, Aaron made sure that Morgan and Reid were safely inside the vehicle beside their own before turning the key in the ignition. He winced when a blast of cold air shot out of the front and rear vents. "Sorry! Sorry!" He turned the force down to one until the car warmed up. "Calm down!"

His order wasn't directed at the back passengers. Other than little yelps of surprise, they hardly reacted to the shock of _more_ cold. Rossi on the other hand, let out a string of profanities as he lurched his body back over the consul to get away from his vent. The normally cool and collected Italian wasn't one to overreact. But he hated the cold. _Hated_ it.

When the first trickle of warm air began to blow through the cabin, Hotch rolled his eyes to look at the older man. "Feeling better."

Only slightly embarrassed, Dave cleared his throat and slid his gloves off casually. "Much. Thank you." He snipped, avoiding eye contact by staring at the bland scenery that surrounded the tiny airport.

/

Ranger Stations were set up in each district of the large National Forest, but with the rapid disappearance occurring across the 6,100 square miles, they were forced to set up a makeshift headquarters in the center of it.

Chief Deputy Schrader met them on the main road to lead them deep into the forest. When he approached Hotch's window, he peered into the backseat and then to the SUV containing Spencer and Derek.

"You sure you want to bring two vehicles?" His tone wasn't condescending, but concerned.

Furrowing his brow, Hotch glanced to Dave before asking. "Is that not recommended?" In turn, he tried to keep the skepticism out of the question.

"Just...try not to get separated." Was Schrader's clipped response. He gave a friendly wave to Prentiss and JJ and then to the gentlemen in the back car. "It'll be dark soon."

Aaron watched him head back to his squad car-painted tan and green to blend in to the trees-and cleared his throat. "Dave, keep an eye on the mirror for me will ya?"

Rossi nodded, as that had already been his intention. The last thing they needed was to get split up within the first hour of their investigation.

/

Three hours later, they pulled up to the small commune of log cabins and double wides. The sun had set less than twenty minutes into their drive, but the flood lights surrounding the property practically brought back the daytime.

"Only thing that's missing is a spotlight." Emily mused quietly, climbing out of the back and stepping up next to Aaron.

He nodded and lifted his hand up to Schrader, motioning for him to join them before meeting up with the officers waiting on the porch of the main cabin. "Deputy, are all of these lights necessary?" He kept his voice low, so as not to undermine him in front of his officers.

"It's to help the night team find the camp." Schrader looked up at the closest light pole. A look of doubt flitted across his wrinkled face.

"It's also beacon for anyone else out there." Hotch noted. "Now, I don't know the area as well as you, so I won't tell you how to go about safety procedures. But with a killer who doubles as a hunter, it's best for all of us to lay low. We need to get the jump on him, not the other way around."

Knowing he'd made his point, Aaron brushed past the older man. He let out a relieved breath when he heard Schrader quietly order one of his men to shut the lights off.

/

"Richie Bartz was apparently taken right off of the trail." JJ told them, walking into the cozy den that would be their headquarters for the case. It was probably one of their more rustic locations, and if it hadn't been for the multiple homicides, it would have been a relaxing retreat. "Their hiking party never split up. All of them were experienced and knew the dangers of going off alone."

"So he picked him from the group?" Morgan asked incredulously.

Bartz had been the only victim taken in daylight and had been with the largest group of people. The fact that the Unsub had been so bold with his first victim (to their knowledge) was a little strange. Normally they played it safe with the initial kill, choosing high risk victims in the dead of night to avoid being seen. But he was equally reckless with each abduction.

Marley Kennedy went missing from the tent she had been sharing with her wife and two children. Allison Bryson was taken off a mountain peak while her husband was chasing after one of their dogs who had slipped his leash. The peak only had one path going up and one going down, but no tracks had been found on either.

Lieutenant King, who had been on the trail searching for Allison with some other officers when he was snatched. They found his hat outside of a cave towards the base of the mountain. Inside of that cave was Allison's body.

"He was in the back of the line." JJ responded, handing him the stack of statements given by Bartz' friends. "The guy in front of him turned to tell him something and he was there, but less than a minute later he was gone."

Spencer ran his fingers across the crime scene photos he'd tacked to the bulletin board next to the fireplace. "There are still leaves covering the ground." He mused. "When Bartz was taken, it was right in the middle of fall, there would have been a lot of sound produced by anyone walking the trails. Our Unsub would have to be small in stature and light on his feet in order to sneak up on people who grew up hiking."

"He's a skilled huntsman." Schrader confirmed. "The tools he's using are old, practically medieval, but he's using them proficiently without hesitation."

"The bodies were taken from different parts of the forest." Reid continued, giving the officer a brief nod to indicate that he'd heard him. JJ had been scolding him for the lack of social skills he sometimes exhibited when working cases. "Bartz was hiking the Norway Trail in the LaCroix District, Marley Kennedy was camping on the other side of the forest in Gunflint, and the last two victims were on Eagle Mountain."

Hotch shook his head, staring at the map as he calculated. "The second and third victims were estimated to have been killed within a couple of days of one another right?" He turned to Schrader. When he nodded, he continued, "He wouldn't have been able to make it from district to district in that amount of time. Not on foot."

"So he has a car." Derek shrugged. At least 90% of their Unsubs were licensed drivers.

"It would be a vehicle that's around all of the time." Spencer continued on with Hotch's thought process. "The only ones that are staples in these parts are the patrol cars right?"

"Pretty much." Schrader didn't really see how this was any help. "But we would never notice a recurring car. This area is huge and we get thousands of sightseers a day."

"Well, now you know to be alert for something." JJ assured him.

/

"She knew not to go out on her own." Amy Kennedy wiped her nose and pressed her fist to her mouth. "We hadn't camped there before. We weren't familiar with the area."

"Your kids were with you?" Rossi tilted his head while handing her a clean tissue from the pack he kept in his pocket. "You have two little girls?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah, they're nine and seven." She swallowed. "Marley wouldn't have wanted us to leave them alone in the tent, but she would have at least woken me up to tell me she was stepping out to go to the bathroom or something."

"Did you notice anyone else on the campground that day?"

"There were a couple of other groups there." The woman looked up as she tried to recall their days at the tiny site. "Another family, a mom, dad, and little boy. And a group of girls...college students I think? They had Greek Symbols on all of their clothes." She let out a bitter laugh.

Rossi marked down a few notes, but continued speaking. "And they didn't see anything?"

"Not that I know of." Amy shook her head and sniffled. "The family was kind of far back from the trail and those girls screamed at every little noise in the woods. I'm sure we would have been alerted if someone came near them."

Dave bobbed his head gently, closed his notepad, and reached out to place a hand on the young widow's arm. "I'm truly sorry for your loss."

"Will you catch this man?"

"I sure hope so."

/

Emily came out of the next room-where she had been speaking with Allison Bryson's husband-just as Rossi stepped into the hall.

"Anything?" She asked quietly, nodding to the officers by the stairs to inform them that the two spouses were free to go. Her interview hadn't really shed any light on the case. Mr. Bryson had been too far down the mountain to notice anything at the time of his wife's abduction.

"There was a group of Sorority Girls camping only a few yards away from the Kennedys' site." Dave told her. "From the sounds of it, they had been drinking heavily. They would have been a much easier target for this guy."

Prentiss shrugged and threw Aaron a tiny smile when they met him at the bottom of the stairs. "He's sticking to a specific age range." She said. "Rickie Bartz was thirty-five, the oldest one in his group. Lieutenant King was in his early forties while his partner is nearing sixty. Marley Kennedy was thirty-seven and Amy just turned thirty last week."

"So, he'd rather take the ones that match his preferences than the easier targets." Hotch reviewed, motioning for the two to follow him into the den. "He took King, when his partner would have been a simpler pursuit in his old age."

"So, what's making him pick these victims?" Rossi stared at Spencer's corkboard as he pondered.

They had worked with much less in the past, so they were all pretty confident at this point. Their only concern was the location. When an Unsub had Mother Nature on their side, they made for a harder catch. They had the advantage of knowing the terrain and all of its nooks and crannies.

But despite their inexperience with the forest, the team was more than capable when it came to doing the impossible.

/

 **29 Hours Earlier**

Reid and JJ were the first to head out-shortly after five am-as they had the farthest to drive. They were joining Schrader and his partner to investigate the LaCroix District of the vast forest.

As soon as JJ stepped out of their shared room, Emily dashed across the hall and jumped into Aaron's bed. He was the only one who got his own room-boss perks-and though JJ was well aware of their relationship, they still tried to keep the whole thing on the down low.

"Your toes are freezing." Hotch grumbled, not opening his eyes as he pulled her closer and wrapped his socked feet around her bare ones. He smiled at her hum of an apology and kissed the top of her messy hair. "Is there enough heat in your room?"

Prentiss nodded against his shoulder, burrowing deeper under the covers and against his warm body. "Yeah, JJ's just a cover hog." She pretended to pout. "She's small, but feisty in her sleep. I think I have a bruise from where she kicked me."

She rubbed her hip. The spot where the blonde's little foot connected with it was sore, but it wasn't her worse bedtime casualty. The lips pressing tiny kisses to her brow were quite capable of leaving purple marks on her neck and the teeth beneath had been known to brand her shoulders from time-to-time. It was safe to say that her inventory of long sleeves and turtlenecks increased when she started sleeping with her boss.

"What time do we have to leave?" She ran languid fingers over his ribcage, smirking when he tensed. His ticklish spots had been made known to her in the past few months and she loved to remind him of the power she had every chance she got.

Hotch grabbed her hand and kissed the offending digits one-by-one between words. "Probably...In...The...Next...Half hour." He rubbed his nose against hers. "Do you mind going with me to Eagle Mountain? Morgan wanted to take the Gunflint District and I don't want to make Dave climb too much. He won't admit it, but at his age mountain climbing is pretty much out of his job description."

Emily laughed and nodded. She loved being partnered with him-for obvious reasons. It was nice to have an actual excuse to do so.

They cuddled in silence for a few moments, soaking in the last bit of alone time they'd have for a while.

"Damn it Reid!" Morgan's voice boomed from the hallway. "No more ice cream before bed!"

Aaron cupped the back of her head and pressed her face to his chest to muffle the laughter bubbling up from her throat. He had bite his lip to keep quiet as well when Rossi also began to exclaim outside their door.

"At least you weren't on the bottom bunk Derek!"

"How do you know it was me?" Spencer's innocent voice chimed in.

"'Cause I've been sharing a room with you for nearly ten years." Morgan snapped.

"So you think that means you've memorized the smell of my flatulence?"

"Listen kid, I'm not happy about it!"

"Reid, where did you even find ice cream?" Rossi's voice was faded. It sounded as though he had placed his t-shirt over his nose and mouth in order to re-enter their room.

"In the freezer." Spencer sounded puzzled by the question.

Morgan let out another groan before slamming the door shut. "Boy, I'm making you a doctor's appointment as soon as we get back!" He yelled over the screams of Rossi, who must have been trapped in the odorous space. "There is something not right with your insides."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** **: There will be a couple of Native Minnesotans in this story. I'm not from the area, but my fiancé is from Grand Rapids (MN) and his family's accents are one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving. I will try to make the sentences understandable when incorporating the accent into my writing. If it gets annoying or offends anyone, please let me know!**

 **Also, I've only been to Superior National Forest once, so I'm going by memory and (mostly) internet research here. If anyone is from the area and they see any inconsistencies, feel free to tell me! I know I hate it when people misrepresent Florida, I'd hate to do the same with someone else's state!**

 **Please Review!**

/\\\\\/\\\\\

 **28 Hours Earlier**

 **Norway Trail, LaCroix District**

There were a few people out on the trails when they'd arrived. It didn't really matter, as this was the oldest crime scene, thus is had long since been compromised.

Rather than take them to the last known location of Richie Bartz, Schrader took them to a small cabin about a mile from where they'd parked. The door had been propped open and inside there was only a bed and a small kitchen area with a table. In the lone chair, sat a tall muscular man with a thick red beard and a beanie covering up the matching shaggy head of hair.

Schrader waved to the younger gentleman and pointed to his companions. "Sheldon Ayers, these are Agents Reid and Jareau from the FBI." He introduced, allowing them to shake hands. "Sheldon here was a friend of Mr. Bartz."

"We grew up together." Sheldon elaborated.

"You've been staying out here by yourself?" Spencer raised a brow upon seeing the duffle bag sitting beside the unmade bed.

The large man nodded and cleared his throat. "I'm not going home until this guy is caught." His voice was as firm and his eyes steady. "Richie didn't deserve what he got. I'll make sure this bastard gets _everything_ he deserves."

JJ glanced at Schrader, who didn't even flinch at the man's words. The BAU didn't encourage vigilante justice. Molly had been the prime example of what happened when someone tries to take matters into their own hands.

"Mr. Ayers, I understand why you want to be out here, but it's probably not the best idea right now." She spoke on behalf of her team and the Ranger's team-even if they weren't on the same page. "The person responsible for these crimes isn't afraid to take people from _groups_. He won't hesitate to go after someone who's on their own."

Sheldon shrugged and lifted his buffalo plaid shirt to reveal a SIG clipped to his belt. "I'll be ready for him."

"Officer King had a glock when he was abducted." Reid pointed out. "And though he had fired every round, he still ended up with an arrow through the eye and devoured by wolves." He could hear the shudder his words elicited from Schrader, but he didn't care. Fear was sometimes the best tool for motivation.

"I'll be ready." Sheldon said again. He wasn't being cocky or arrogant. He was determined.

Deciding to take another approach, JJ leaned back against the counter of the kitchenette. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked gently. "Would Richie approve of you being out here on your own?"

The behemoth chuckled mirthlessly and ducked his head. "Richie would have done the same thing if any of us had been taken instead." He said, focusing his eyes on his clenched fists on the table. The tattoo of a compass in the center of a Celtic Knot sat rested on his inner wrist-the ink stretched with his tightening tendons. "He was my brother's best friend, they were deployed together. He brought Greg's dog tags back to my mother. Ran into a burning building to get 'em. I only hope I can be a fraction of the brave idiot he was. For his mom."

JJ winced and looked to Spencer. It was hard to argue against valor.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

 **Gunflint District**

"The Kennedy's were set up about here." Officer Burrell motioned needlessly to the taped off area. "The only tracks we could find belonged to the family and the group from across the path." He removed one of the barriers to allow the two agents to pass by.

While Rossi went across the way to examine the site where the college students had been set up, Morgan took the victim's area. Their tent was still set up, even though Marley had been taken over five months prior. The once red nylon was a faded mauve color after sitting out in the winter season. The top of it was a little threadbare, but otherwise, it had held up surprisingly well. If Derek had been a woodsman, he might have considered looking into that brand.

"Why did you leave it set up?" He asked, pushing the flap open to peer inside. The musky odor of wet fabric assaulted his senses, but he bit bag a grimace out of respect.

"Her wife wanted to keep it out." Burrell didn't seem annoyed by the request. In fact, he almost sounded empathetic. "In case she came back. After they found her b...after they found her, we didn't have the heart to take it down. Her family has come back a few times." He gestured to the bouquet of dead flowers resting against the wooden post beside the tent.

Morgan swallowed and bobbed his head up and down. He didn't get emotional on cases, but some things just hit him harder than others. He'd read the case file on the Kennedy's. The mothers of two married only three months before Marley's abduction-their home state of Delaware had only just legalized same-sex marriage the year prior. They'd adopted their daughters, Sunny and Violet from Uganda when they were infants and raised them in a safe and happy home for nearly ten years.

Now they were going to be a single-parent household. And Derek knew how rough a life like that could be.

"How many people have camped out here since the victim's disappearance?" Rossi's voice startled them.

"We closed down this whole section." Burrell said. "We only let cyclists and experienced hikers out here right now, considering what's been going on. I wish the rest of the Ranger Districts would follow our lead."

"That might help for a while, but you can't close down forever." Morgan told the older man.

"So what? We stay open so he can have more victims at his disposal?"

Rossi kicked around the soot in the fire pit between campsites. "He'll just find somewhere else to hunt." He muttered. It was a conversation he'd had at least a hundred times throughout his career. "Unfortunately, when he takes his victims, it brings us that much closer to catching him."

"I'll need a log of everyone who has checked into this area over the past six months." Derek changed the subject, not wanting to discuss their logic any further. They knew what they were doing, and though Burrell's actions weren't wrong, they weren't what the BAU would have recommended. But what was done was done.

The ranger nodded and spoke into his radio, requesting that his deputy pull the information. "We can pick it up at my office on the way out."

"Have him send them to our analyst." Derek handed him Garcia's card. "She'll know what to do with them."

/\\\\\/\\\\\

 **Eagle Mountain**

Despite the cold wind that blew past them every two minutes, the mountain top was actually quite nice. The sun was shining through the fluffy white clouds and the sky was a shade of blue that was rarely seen in DC.

The Forest Ranger in Grand Marais area, Robbe Hunt, was the only one to accompany them on the steep climb. He was young-barely into his thirties-and very friendly. From his thick accent, it was obvious that he was born and raised in the area. His polite manners were a dead giveaway as well.

"The trail only gohs soh far." Robbe-he insisted that they call him by his first name-explained making sure Emily saw the roots jutting up from the earth. "More off-en 'an noh-t tourists are forced to stick with the scenic routes."

"The Bryson's were pretty far up though weren't they?" Prentiss asked, trying to recall the coordinates of that particular crime scene.

"They're from Duluth." Robbe reminded her. "'At's just a hohp, skip, an'a jump from 'ere. They walked this trail at least a thoh-sand times."

Hotch gripped the walking stick he had been given back at the ranger's station as he hoisted himself onto the first of about twenty rock steps leading up to the next hilltop. He made sure that Emily remained between them on the trail. It was something he would have done with any of his agents, but of course there was the added factor of his constant need to protect her.

Of course, she would turn him into a shish-kabob if she ever found out about that particular need.

"'Ere it is." Hunt gestured the stone plateau as soon as they reached the top. "Mrs. Bryson was las' seen standin' a-bought 'ere. When her husband came back up, she was gone."

Aaron crouched down and pressed his fingertips against the cool granite, trying to place himself in Allison's shoes. His eyes scanned the view below, taking in what it was the woman saw before she was abducted.

He could hear Emily moving about behind him, asking Robbe questions regarding the trails and how far they were from civilization. He trusted her to get all of the necessary information while he profiled the scene. She was intuitive and always knew what inquiries to make and her ability to read people was incredible. He was proud to be her superior as well as...well...as well as her Hotch.

"I...I'm sorry can you say that again?" She hesitated before making the request. The young Ranger couldn't help his dialect and she loathed making it an issue.

"Dare's a crick only bouta mile down dah hill 'ere." Hunt seemed unfazed. He probably had the repeat himself a lot for the tourists. "Sometimes folks like ta go down an' wash up dare. Gets kinda muddy in dese parts."

Prentiss looked to Hotch who was already peering over the edge of the cliff, hoping to catch a glimpse of the creek from there. He looked so handsome in his khaki pants and blue flannel shirt. He'd left his coat back in the truck, knowing that he was going to be warmed up by their hike. But as she watched him shove his hands in his pockets and let out a sniffle, she knew he was beginning to regret his decision.

"Want to go down and take a look?" She asked with an arched brow. "Maybe the Unsub covered his tracks by going through the cri...creek." She winced at her stumble.

 _Great Emily._ She scolded herself. _Mock the kid's accent. That's the perfect way to keep up a good rapport._

Again Robbe didn't comment. If he wasn't being polite then he was a little too oblivious to be working in law enforcement. Either way, Emily felt a flutter of affection for the boy. It couldn't have been easy for him to be a part of such a dark case after growing up in a bubble.

Hotch nodded in response to her question and motioned for Hunt to lead the way.

"Careful." He hissed, catching Emily's arm to keep her from stumbling on the loose gravel leading back to the trail. Once she was upright, he smiled tenderly at the back of her head. "I thought you were more sure-footed than this Agent Prentiss."

"Where did you get that impression sir?" She threw a wink over her shoulder before continuing on after Robbe.

/

So many choices.

They were making it too easy.

The game was slowly turning into something much more riveting.

/

 **20 Hours Earlier**

It was only one in the afternoon, but to the team it felt much later.

They were grimy and all of their limbs were gelatinous as they stumbled one-by-one into their den headquarters. Their lodging was just upstairs, but even if they didn't have a ton of work to do, they wouldn't have had the strength to make the climb.

JJ, ever the mother, handed out baby wipes to each of them as they filed in and plopped down in the closest available seats. She and Reid had returned about twenty minutes before the other two groups, and they had less of a trek through the forest-when Schrader finally took them to the path Bartz disappeared from, it was in a Gator ATV.

"Have I mentioned how much I hate outdoor crime scenes?" Derek asked after finishing off a second bottle of water. "Especially _old_ outdoor crime scenes?"

"It does make things a little trickier." Dave had removed his fleece vest and rolled up the sleeves of his plaid shirt. The heat from the fireplace negated the need for layers. "But something always turns up."

Hotch nodded in agreement. "He'll slip up." He muttered, concentrating on the board filled with photos and Reid's Geographic Profile. "There's a pattern, it's small, but at least we have an idea of who he might be after. We can do something with that."

"So we ask that anyone between thirty and forty not be allowed into the forest until we catch this guy?" Morgan waved the hand that had been resting on the arm of the couch. "You know we can't do that."

"That's not what I'm suggesting." If he hadn't been in such deep focus, Hotch would have rolled his eyes at his right hand man. The more tired Derek got, the more he threw his critical thinking out the window. "We can notify each ranger station. Have them bottleneck the entrances to their posts and they can inform people as they come in. The best thing to do is heighten vigilance."

JJ nodded and pushed herself up from her spot on the window seat. "I'll let Schrader know to pass it on." She told her boss, who dipped his head ever so slightly as a sign of gratitude.

"There was a creek less than a mile from Allison Bryson's last known location." Emily said after a few minutes of pensive silence. "Nothing there raised red flags, but Rob...Ranger Hunt says that it flows from Gunflint and that it could very possibly go all the way to LaCroix. That could be the way our Unsub covers his tracks."

Reid hopped up and moved over to his map, removing the lid from his red Sharpie and giving Emily a questioning look. She took the hint and let out a tiny groan as she too left to comfort of the couch and staggered over to the board to try to locate the creek.

A commotion from the hallway gave them all pause. Spencer turned with his pen ready to write as JJ rushed back into the den.

"They found another body." She huffed, her eyes wide. "A Forest Ranger. His body was found in the North Woods."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: There's a good chance that I'll probably just finish this story up before I continue on with 'The Third'. My muse has been stuck here right now, and I want to keep going. I do hate leaving stories unfinished, so it will be done soon!**

 **Also, I have done A LOT of research on Superior National Forest. I only visited a very small part of it and it was in a pretty populated area. The North Woods are a thing there, but I'm more than likely writing them incorrectly in this story. My fiancé (a native to the area) couldn't even help me. But I guess it's called 'fiction' for a reason.**

 **Thank you to reviewer 'Reid is my Hero' for your suggestion! I was having doubts about Minnesota having mountain ranges. Eagle Mountain** _ **is**_ **a part of Superior National Forest (it's the highest point in the state). I doubt that it shares the characterizations of most mountains as it is more of a hill, but for the sake of the story, I may have exaggerated!**

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

 **Fifteen Hours Earlier**

As much as they wanted to stay in their cozy den and sleep for the rest of the day, they had a job to do.

To avoid splitting up, the six agents piled into one SUV and followed Schrader's patrol car along the dirt road. Hotch let Morgan drive so that he could rest in the back-he had been the only one to go without rest after their busy morning. He sat with Emily in the third row of seats and clutched her hand in his throughout the journey-even when he was in a deep sleep.

The trip seemed endless.

Four and a half hours of trees and rocks and more trees and more rocks. Reid, who had declared 'shotgun' the second he'd stepped onto the front porch of the cabin, babbled on and on to Derek about the different flora and fauna to be found in the state of Minnesota. Of course Morgan had learned to respond to the young doctor without actually listening-so everyone was happy.

Garcia had called Hotch right before they'd left. She told him that none of the names on the sign-in lists corresponded with the ones from different districts. Another dead end.

It was a good thing Penelope had contacted them when she did though. The second they were out on the main road, all of their phones beeped at the lack of cell service. JJ pouted faintly, as she had been in the middle of texting Will to see how Henry's day at school had been.

"Man, this doesn't look good." Morgan mumbled, eyeing their surroundings warily.

Not much had changed in the way of scenery-again, trees and rocks-but a low fog hung just over the muddy earth. It was as though they were driving through a cloud-A dense, gray, spooky as hell, cloud.

"I feel like our last few cases have been slight reminiscent of Silent Hill." Reid commented, leaning forward in his seat and squinting through the mist. "Rural, gloomy towns with little to no active population and Law Enforcement that's ill prepared for such events."

"Great observation kid." Derek said throwing him a small smirk to show that he was mostly joking. Sometimes Spencer worked better when he was given the freedom to muse aloud, so he wasn't going to discourage his observations, but at the same time, it was difficult to bite down the sarcasm.

Emily nudged Aaron to let him know they were getting close. She wasn't letting go of his hand yet, she preferred the comfort, but she wanted him to be out of his groggy post-sleep phase by the time they got out.

"Too bad we didn't pack a picnic." He murmured, running is thumb across the top of her knuckles. Hearing her soft chuckle brought a smile to his face. He spotted the time on his watch and scrunched up his face. "Have I been asleep this whole time?"

"Yes sir." Prentiss kept up the professional charade, just in case their teammates were listening. She ignored the small eye roll JJ threw her over her shoulder. "It's a good thing too. We might be out here for a while."

Hotch nodded and ran a pointer finger over the corners of each eye, clearing away any rheum that may have gathered there. "Did you get to rest?" He squeezed her palm a little, in a show of affection to counteract his authoritative tone.

"Nah." She stuck out her lower lip and shook her head. At his scowl she let out a huff and shrugged. "I get cranky after short naps. You guys don't want to have to deal with that."

"No we do _not_." Rossi spoke up, not even turning in his seat.

"At least I'll sleep like a rock tonight." Emily assured him, with a tiny wink before raising her voice. " _And_ I found a stash of extra blankets in the hall closet. So maybe I'll have some warmth tonight."

JJ chortled and stretched as though she were already preparing for the nighttime battle. "We'll see." She forewarned casually.

/\\\\\/\\\\\

Nine people stood so close to him. Three of them he knew. They had been there since the very beginning. But the others were new to his forest.

/\\\\\/\\\\\

Ranger Halstead-the victim's partner-met them on the narrow path, less than a mile from the small dirt lot they'd parked in. Her hand trembled as it reached out to shake the hand of the agents as their introductions were made.

"I'm sorry." She shuddered and wiped her sleeve across her runny nose. "I just...This is a little..."

Hotch didn't make her finish that thought. "We know." He assured her. His steely gaze was used to comfort her, not intimidate. He had mastered the subtle difference throughout the years. "Whenever you're ready, we need to know what happened."

He gestured to JJ who immediately understood and stepped forward to speak to the terrified young woman. Reid moved aside with them also-his presence could be quite calming in situations like this.

Trusting his two younger agents to get the necessary information, Aaron led the rest of his team to the small hill Schrader and his partner had disappeared over.

"So he was snatched from the bike trail less than three miles from here while his partner was giving directions to a cyclist right _behind_ him." Derek summarized what they'd learned back at headquarters. "Then he's found two hours later with only a couple of wounds. Why the change?"

A blue tarp covered the body of Ranger Elmer to the right of the path. Muddied brown boots poked out from beneath it and a matching Campaign Hat was lying just beside them.

"He was just a kid." Schrader sighed, standing up from his crouched position and looking to approaching agents. "Just started out here last year. Was willing to work out here in the wilderness when no one else was. He didn't deserve this."

" _No one_ deserves this." Dave said gently, not meaning any disrespect.

Hotch nodded to the coroner, who removed the cover from the victim. The young male's eyes were still opened wide, staring sightlessly at the treetops overhead. His skin was pale and tinged with blue from the cold. A thin arrow had gone into the left side of his neck and went all the way through until it was caught at the fletching.

"Killed after one shot." Emily sighed, continuing on with Morgan's train of thought. "No stab wounds, no torture, and he has all of his limbs. He was even left where he could be easily found. Nothing like the others."

Rossi was leaning down to look at the victim's shoes. "He was running through mud but this area is mostly dry gravel." He observed. "Is there water nearby?"

"There's a lake about a mile west." Schrader's partner, Oakley told them, pointing in the general vicinity.

"If he ran all the way over here, there would be rocks stuck to the mud." Dave gestured to the bottom of the boots. "But there isn't any. He was killed somewhere else and then dumped here. Like he _wanted_ him to be found."

"He's getting cocky." Morgan surmised.

Emily glanced up when something flashed in her peripheral. Straightening up, she waved to Aaron as she drew her gun and stepped into the tree line. It was only a few feet away from the group, but she wasn't taking any chances with their stealth Unsub.

It took her a moment to place what it was that caught her attention. There were so many trees with multicolored leaves and birds flying about, so it was possible that her eyes were just playing tricks on her.

Before she could settle on that theory though, it was right in front of her. Sticking out of the trunk of one of the larger trees in the area. The light of the sun-whitened by overcast-bounced off of the blade, despite the blood that coated the small bit of exposed metal. "Hotch!" She called, pulling a pair of gloves from her coat pocket and snapping them on.

By the sound of it, her call had beckoned more than just the Unit Chief. Aaron of course arrived at her side first, quietly asking if she was alright before his eyes also fell on the small weapon.

Prentiss gave him a brief nod. Her fellow agents and the Park Rangers didn't notice it in their hasty approach.

"What is that?" Schrader's question was, hopefully, rhetorical, so it went unanswered.

The group just watched in anticipation as Emily pulled the knife from its resting place. It took a couple of good yanks-normally she would have had it out in one fell swoop, but she was being careful, considering that it was evidence-before it loosened and unembedded itself.

It was a sharpfinger with a pearl handle. The blade was thin but nearly four inches long and curved. Emily had never seen it used by an Unsub, but she wasn't shocked to see it. It was used by hunters for skinning their kills and most of their victims' abdominal areas had been skinned.

Bartz had killed himself before he was subjected to such treatment and Elmer's kill seemed to be done almost erratically. The killer wasn't working with the same patience as before.

"Do you think this was left here on purpose too?" Emily asked, taking the proffered evidence bag from Derek and slipping the knife inside.

Hotch shook his head and placed his hand over hers to rotate the object. "I doubt it. This means a lot to someone." He replied, pointing to the fancy handle with the gold initials inscribed at the bottom of the handle. "R.G, that ring any bells to you?" He turned to Schrader who exchanged looks with Oakley.

The two men thought for a moment, running through the locals and regular visitors they saw daily. "Nothing rings a bell." Schrader finally let out a sigh. "I mean, there are a few patrolmen with those initials...Grant...Gillings...Green." He named them off to remind his partner.

"Yeah, but none of them fit the bill." Oakley pulled a face and shrugged. "Grant is nearly seventy and Gillings is over three hundred pounds. He never gets out of his truck."

"We'll still need a list of everyone you can think of." Aaron told them. "Odds are it's none of your men. It could be a park guest."

"I'll have Garcia cross-reference the initials with the names on the sign-in sheet." Emily told him, holding her phone up and squinting at the top left corner of the screen. "Or I will when I find a signal."

Hotch grabbed her arm to stop her from walking off. "Wait until we're back in the car. It can keep until then." He ordered gently, hesitantly letting her go. "It's not worth the risk to go off searching for something that won't be found."

"Yeah, there aren't any towers for miles." Schrader agreed.

Emily nodded and placed her phone in one inner coat pocket and the bag containing the knife in the other. They had no analysts around to hand evidence off to, so she would take responsibility for the item until they got back to headquarters.

By the time they got back to the path, JJ and Reid were there examining the body.

"Halstead couldn't have been more than three yards away from him when he was abducted." JJ had a wrinkle between her brows as she updated them. "The cyclist was turned around, so she was pointing him towards the main road. By the time she was done, Elmer was gone. It happened in less than five minutes."

"And she didn't hear anything?" Morgan asked, stepping back and forth on the gravel, testing its sound.

"From what she can recall, there may have been a rustling in the brush nearby, but it wouldn't have been useful." Spencer replied. "She passed it off as a squirrel or a bird at the time and couldn't even determine what direction it had come from."

The team looked over to the young woman who was chewing on her thumbnail as she anxiously watched her partner being loaded onto the gurney that had finally arrived. She was obviously in shock, but had refused to go be checked out by a doctor until Elmer was taken out of there.

Hotch looked up at the sky before checking his watch. It was nearly seven. "We should head out." He told them. "It will be dark soon."

Although, it didn't matter. So far, more victims had been taken in broad daylight. He still didn't want to be caught out there in the dark.

/\\\\\/\\\\\

 **10 Hours Earlier**

The trip back was a little faster, given that it was mostly downhill. Schrader had some of his men go out and get dinner just before they arrived. Derek let out an uncharacteristic sound of delight when his eyes fell on the aluminum trays lining the table in the dining room of the cabin.

"Bless you all!" He exclaimed to the few officers who were still there at the late hour. Upon lifting the lid off of the tray closest to him, he had to bite back the retraction of his praise. He looked to make sure that Rossi was the one who moved to stand beside him, before murmuring, "What the hell?"

/\\\\\/\\\\\

After opening all of the containers, the team was relieved to see that they weren't _all_ filled with lutefisk and mayonnaise salad. When they got further down the line, they unveiled pulled pork sandwiches, tater tots, and some kind of stew.

"Booya." Reid had called the tomato and meat concoction. He had been the only one brave enough to sample everything from the mini-buffet.

None of the officers had remained in the dining room, so the team didn't feel the need to be polite. They weren't looking to destroy their stomachs just to appease locals who weren't even around.

"What's the plan for tomorrow?" JJ asked, taking another bite of the surprisingly delicious pork sandwich.

Hotch, who had been mulling over their plans for the following day the entire trip back, set down his plastic fork and wiped his mouth. "I think Derek and Rossi should go into town." He looked to the two men, as though seeking permission. They all knew it was simply a courtesy-he never gave them an option unless they were genuinely uncomfortable with their assignment. "JJ, it might be time to address the press. Let people know that if they choose to go into the forest, to err on the side of caution."

The blonde nodded, and began to flip through her phone to prepare a list of contacts.

"Prentiss, we'll go with Schrader to each of the stations to check surveillance footage." Aaron continued, looking to the droopy-eyed woman to his right. "We'll have to figure out a way to get the feed to Garcia. Apparently their equipment is a little dated."

"No kidding." Emily muttered giving a pointed look to the plastic Gerald Ford election cup she was sipping from. _'Don't Settle for Peanuts'_ the faded letters read, making an obvious dig at Jimmy Carter. Prentiss had only picked it for the cartoon elephant-crushing a peanut with its trunk-adorning the side.

Aaron smirked at her drollery before turning back to his exhausted team. "I'd suggest turning in as soon as you can." The words were barely out of his mouth before Morgan and JJ began to gather their disposable dishes to throw out. "We're nowhere near catching this guy, and I'd like to at least have a profile by tomorrow."

The group nodded their verifications. It wasn't the first time they had gone a day without a lead, but that didn't make it any less discouraging. Especially with such a ruthless Unsub.

Hotch gazed across the table, making sure to make eye contact with each of them before rising from his seat. It was an attempt to both reassure them and show that he meant what he said. "Everyone be ready to head out at seven. We can't let him get anyone else, understand?"

More nods responded to his rhetorical question before everyone excused themselves. If they got to bed now, they'd have exactly six and a half hours of sleep.

/\\\\\/\\\\\

 **4 Hours Earlier**

JJ had behaved herself. With both of them wrapped in their individual cocoons, it was difficult for the younger woman to snag the quilts Emily had taken from the hall closet.

Despite the warmth and despite the serene quiet of the cabin, Emily couldn't get back to sleep. The gray light shining through the wooden blinds of their south-facing window told her that it was late enough to _not_ be considered 'the middle of the night', but it was still too early to be officially morning.

Her eyelids were heavy with exhaustion, but the rest of her was wide awake. Her constantly active mind kept reminding her of what was waiting for them outside in the dense forest.

A killer. A killer not unlike the rest of the ones they encountered in their day-to-day lives. But a killer nonetheless. It was crazy to her that people outside of their line of work assumed that they would eventually grow accustomed to tracking down sadistic killers, being that it was the norm. But there was no way to become inured to the idea of one human taking the life of another human just to feel pleasure.

It was something that would never sit well with her. And she was glad of that.

When she was no longer affected by her job, she would be concerned.

Shaking her head, Emily sat up and shoved her covers aside. She couldn't lay there for the next few hours with those thoughts. It would do nothing but cast a shadow over her entire day.

Her bladder was beginning to give her fair warning, so she thought it would be a good idea to appease it while she was awake and bored.

The cold hardwood made her toes curl with regret the moment they made contact, but she powered through. The bathroom was right next door and the hallway had a rug to give her some reprieve before she would get to the even colder tiles.

In her small journey from room to room; Emily noticed that Aaron's door was ajar, revealing his unmade, empty, bed.

Furrowing her brow, she quickly went about her business and finished as quickly as possible. The pipes weren't frozen so she was able to wash her hands with warm(ish) water. She had showered the night before just in case the Arctic Cold Front arrived a day early. Luckily for Morgan and JJ, who had both been too exhausted to clean up the night before, they would have a chance to do so before setting out.

Rubbing her damp hands on her flannel pajama top, Prentiss peered into Hotch's room to confirm that he wasn't sitting somewhere else in the small dark space. But it was completely empty.

"Tell me he didn't." She growled, rushing back into her room to change.

/\\\\\/\\\\\

She was still fuming five minutes later as she stomped down the stairs with as much fury as possible while still remaining quiet.

Just past the screen door at the foot of the staircase she saw the back of his messy dark hair. He was standing in the patch of dead grass laid out between the cabin and the cars. He had obviously already dressed himself for the day-he had his thick coat on his pants were a little tighter than normal with the two or three extra layers beneath.

Prentiss shoved the door open and didn't even bother to stop it from slamming before charging down the front steps and across the gravel path and yard.

"Are you insane?" She called out to him. "Don't you know there's a kill-" She trailed off when he turned to her with wide eyes and a finger to his lips.

In his other hand was a cell phone pressed to the ear sticking out of his knit cap. Seeing the fear in her eyes, he reached out and grasped her arm to pull her to his side.

"Okay buddy." He said gently, resting his cheek against the top of her head. "Well, it's all over now. I promise the monster won't bother you if you're holding Mr. Robot...Yes...He's got his blaster on, he told me...Yep...Think you can go back to sleep now?...Good boy. Can you put mommy back on?...I love you."

With the small break they had while Jack scrambled the phone back into Haley's possession, he quickly mouthed _'I'm sorry'_ before pressing a kiss to the corner of Emily's mouth. "Hey." He said sharply into the mouthpiece. His tone with his ex-wife, while cordial, was entirely different than the one he had with Jack. It was almost businesslike and a little cold.

As Emily listened to the one-sided conversation, she couldn't help but feel a pang of gratitude that she wasn't on the receiving end of that voice anymore. Unlike her first days in the BAU, he spoke to her as a peer now. Even before they'd begun a personal relationship, he had treated her as a fellow agent, not a subordinate.

And though she was never the jealous type, it almost relieved her that he wasn't speaking to Haley with the affection that he used to. She hated herself for it, but it made her shoulders relax only slightly.

They finished up their brief conversation about Jack's latest nightmare and what could have caused it after only a couple of minutes. Hotch hung up and immediately addressed the still agitated woman at his side.

"I know." He pressed his lips to her hairline and wrapped his other arm around her in a full hug. "I know I was being stupid. Haley called and all I could hear was that he had a bad dream, but there was too much static. I just walked until I could find service."

Emily nodded and allowed him to continue rocking her back and forth. "I understand." She swallowed. "I was just scared after...well after all we've seen in the past few days. Next time wake someone." She leaned back and gave him her best glare. Though it was nowhere near as terrifying as his, it was still pretty effective.

"You needed sleep."

"I didn't say wake me!" She furrowed her brows and shook her head in fake indignation. "I said wake _someone_. Like Morgan or Rossi."

Aaron smiled softly and tilted his head back. "Ah."

Growing serious, Emily played with the zipper on his coat. "Just think about how you would feel if _I_ wandered off while there was a cop-killing Unsub running around."

This line of reasoning always worked. And by the shadow that passed over his eyes, she knew that she'd hit her mark. She didn't say things like that to punish him. No, she said it to put things into perspective. To remind him that his little bouts of protectiveness went both ways.

"I'm sorry." He finally said, looking down through the small space between them. "I'll get someone next time."

"Thank you."

That was all she needed. Standing on her toes, she pressed her lips to his nose before pressing their foreheads together.

The cold morning winds wafted by, bringing with them a plethora of forest smells. Emily finally pulled back and closed her eyes while taking in a deep breath. "Why can't it be this quiet in DC?" She asked with an artificial pout, looking to him with her doe eyes, as though he could change the happenings in their city. "It's nice to be able to actually _hear_ the birds."

Hotch smiled and tilted his head when he heard the sharp little whistles coming from the trees to the left. They were whimsical and excited.

He was ready to tease her about her distaste for her neighbor's parrot's constant squawking, but paused. The birds weren't singing. They were just calling out. But their sounds didn't vary in anything other than length.

Long tweet, short tweet. Three long tweets. Short tweet, long tweet, long tweet.

The pattern repeated once. And then once more.

It was in the middle of the third round that he realized that they weren't birds calling out to one another. They weren't birds at all.

And those weren't calls they were hearing, but Morse code.

"Emily-" He had barely uttered the third syllable when everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

**From here on out, the story takes place in the present. It starts where we left off at the end of Chapter 1.**

 **I don't use a BETA, so I count on reviews to tell me if there is anything off with my writing, grammar, etc. I don't pride myself on being a Grammar Freak or anything like that, but I want to be sure that I'm not bugging anyone with bad English or sentence structure. If it's right for the character, sometimes I butcher the language a bit, but I try not to go beyond that!**

 **So please, review! Even if-no ESPECIALLY if-you want to tell me what you think of the story in general.**

 **Love y'all!**

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

 **Present**

"I don't think you're listening!" Reid was in the process of shouting at one of the deputies when Morgan made his way back outside. "We have two agents missing. _Two_! And no one saw a thing! How is that possible? How do you not set up cameras at your main base? Are you an idiot?"

Derek hurried over to intervene, taking pity on the scruffy redhead who looked like he could very well have a Spiderman T-shirt on under his uniform.

"I-I'm sorry...I was just told to have them...Have them at the back..."

"At the back?" Spencer threw a look in the direction the tech pointed. "The back of the property? Is that somehow different from the front? You know, the place where everyone comes in and out! Everyone, _including_ the serial killer who has now killed two of your men!"

"Okay kid." Morgan clasped a hand over his buddy's shoulder and pulled him back a few inches so that he wasn't _directly_ in the young officer's face. "It's not his fault. He was just following orders."

"Stupid orders." Reid growled over his shoulder as he was led away.

If they weren't searching for two of the most important people in their lives, Derek would have allowed himself to be amused by the young genius' obstinance. Reid rarely ever lost his cool.

But, he looked around, this was a good time to make an exception.

JJ was talking to a small group of reporters-she had been relieved to discover that the press in that area, while still eager, were not as cutthroat as though in the larger metropolitan areas. They would get the story out, warning hikers and gathering search parties, but they wouldn't demand more information than what they were given. There would hopefully be no leaks about what little profile they had gathered.

On the other side of the yard, Rossi was speaking to the K9 Unit Leader. In each of his hands were items of clothing collected from Hotch and Prentiss' rooms.

Morgan had to take a deep breath and remind himself that the dogs were trained to search out the scent no matter what condition the owner was in. They'd found as many live victims with their powerful noses as they had dead ones.

"We need to get out there!" Reid wrenched himself out of Derek's strong grip.

It had been an hour since _realizing_ that the dark-haired couple was missing. Who knew what time of night or early morning they were actually abducted?

Knowing full-well what was going through his mind, Morgan nodded and continued to guide him towards one of the SUV's. "That's why I was coming to get you." He said, keeping his tone even. "We've got a chopper waiting about a mile from here. You're going with me on the aerial search."

He waved to Rossi, who spared him a quick look before inclining his head ever-so-slightly to acknowledge him.

Reid let out a small breath of something akin to relief and jumped into the front seat of the vehicle. At least they were doing _something_.

Closing his eyes, he murmured a small prayer to whomever was listening. _Please let them get out. Please_ _ **get**_ _them out._

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

It was about three hours into their trek through the forest when they decided it was safe to rest for a moment. Aaron led her behind a large tree trunk and made sure that she was seated comfortably on the roots before surveying the area.

Once he was sure the coast was clear, he placed himself on the ground in front of her and took her feet into his lap. As he ran his thumbs over her ankles, he tried to recall exactly what events led up to this moment. How long had they been gone? How many men were in the blitz attack? What were they attacked with?

The last thing he remembered was coming to in the bed of the truck and seeing Emily's face less than two inches away from his own. Her eyes had been shut and a trickle of blood had made its way down over one ivory eyelid. She had been hit in the temple and from the ache he felt in the crown, he knew he had been taken out with a headshot as well.

Someone fast hit them with something hard.

Luckily their concussions were mild. They were now awake and alert, albeit a little nauseous- though that was more likely due to the stress of their current predicament.

"Where do you think we are?" Emily asked, leaning back against the tree and letting her eyes roam over their surroundings. It looked exactly like the view they had seen for the past two days. Rocks, trees, and mud.

Hotch tried to give her an answer. Any answer. But he saw what she saw-absolutely nothing. He swallowed and tried to keep himself in the mindset of SSA Aaron Hotchner-Unit Chief. The last thing they needed was for him to fall apart. Emily needed him to be strong. _Agent Prentiss_ would strongly disapprove of the fear sweeping through his mind. Fear for her.

"It's colder here." She began answering her own question, either not noticing the battle warring within him, or just not caring. "Colder...and less damp...thinner air." Of course, she was already winded from running for so long on rough terrain, but normally it didn't take her this long to catch her breath. She could run a mile in less than six minutes flat and be ready for hot yoga after.

She glanced at Aaron, an avid marathon runner, to see that even he was wheezing as he nodded in agreement.

"We're up higher. Not by much...it's not too mountainous in these parts...but the elevation is definitely further up than where we were." His hands moved up to clutch her calves.

He didn't seem to be aware of his actions. It was almost as though his subconscious was calling all of the physical shots. She didn't mind though. The contact put her at ease-even if only a little.

Nodding up at the sky, Prentiss continued. "Probably a little past noon, close to one thirty." The sun was just past the center point overhead. The white-yellow light glistened through the branches and hit the ground about five yards away from them. "It's been eight hours...eight hours since..."

"So they know we're gone." Hotch cut off her train of thought. He wouldn't let her panic. "They'll find us before the hunt starts."

"There's more than one." Emily sniffled and let her hands settle over the tops of his. "Three...I think."

"Are you sure?"

"No I _think_." She reiterated, harsher than she'd meant to. Wincing with immediate regret, she tightened her fingers around his knuckles. "I'm sorry...I'm just..."

"I know sweetheart." He pulled on her legs, dragging her forward until he could pull her into his lap. He made soft shushing sounds over her panicked breaths and pressed his lips to the top of her damp hair. "It's okay. We're okay...We're okay..."

His eyes flitted about as he spoke, keeping an eye out for any potential threat.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

JJ gave the profile to the small group of officers that remained behind. The rest were out searching with Rossi in the different parts of the vast forest. They were concerned about the missing agents, so they would get the information about the Unsubs later.

"We're thinking that we are dealing with multiple offenders." The blonde agent pointed to the board she had been hastily writing on for the past hour.

"How do you figure?" The deputy sitting on the closest couch in the den asked before she could elaborate.

Not unfamiliar with LEO's butting, JJ bit back a growl and went on. "Agents Hotchner and Prentiss are both quite strong and more than capable of defending themselves against one attacker. If they were taken at the same time, there's no way that just one man took them down." She explained. "It would have had to have been a blitz attack performed by two or more strong men.

The leader is more than likely a Sadistic Sociopath. He's local and very familiar with the forest-he was raised in these parts and knows it like the back of his hand." She took a breath and pointed to the next column on the board. "There's at least on disorganized offender. He killed Ranger Elmer with a shot to the neck before the hunt could begin. That's against the leader's plan and would have likely angered him."

Another officer paused in his diligent note-taking and raised his pen. "Could the killer turn on the partner then?" He asked with a shaky voice. "I mean, if he ruined his plans, he might want to just kill him too right?"

Shaking her head, JJ tapped on the board where she had circled some important points. "With the abduction of our agents, it's obvious that there are still multiple men involved." She reminded them. "Which leads us to believe that the Unsubs are related in some way. Otherwise the weak link would have been eliminated by now."

"So we're looking for brothers that grew up here?" A voice came from the back.

"Not necessarily brothers. It could be a father and son, uncle and nephew, grandfather and grandson." She ticked them off on her fingers. "Any relation could make them invaluable to one another.

Now, these men are going to be extremely violent and not in their right minds. It's best that you approach them with caution and that you do not go in shooting. They might not have firearms on them, but they will be prepared to attack with everything that they have."

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

They avoided taking breaks unless it was absolutely necessary. Without knowing what direction they needed to be heading in-they were going south for now-it was better to keep a steady pace.

Around 1800 hours, the air began to grow a bit more frigid with the fading of the sun. Emily was only wearing her blue fleece coat, a flannel button down, and a pair of jeans along with her heavy boots. In her attempt to apprehend Aaron that morning, she had dressed rather hurriedly. She would have added more layers before they set off with Schrader, but obviously their abductors had offered her no such luxury.

"Eat some more of these." Hotch grabbed a handful of pink berries from his pocket and placed them into the hand that wasn't clinging to his arm.

It was an unspoken agreement that they would not let go of one another, to avoid being separated. Together, they stood a chance to kill these maniacs. But if parted, they didn't think they would have the individual strength to fight,

Emily popped the pods into her mouth and winced as soon as her teeth began crushing them. The Coralberries were Hotch's discovery. His childhood filled with Boy Scout retreats and survival campouts taught him what berries and leaves were edible. Unfortunately, with the forest in between freezes, there were slim pickings.

The tiny berries he'd gathered a few hours back had actually smelled nice-almost like apple blossoms. Their reddish pink tint made them look as appetizing as their scent. But that was as far as the appeal went. The she sampled the first one, her eyes watered and she had to bite back a gag.

They were bitter and horrible. But they were food.

She swallowed them down without further complaint before replacing her free hand on his shoulder. She was getting more and more uncomfortable with the cold, but she wouldn't allow her body to shiver.

If Hotch thought for one moment that she needed warmth, he would have shed his own coat and insisted that she wear it. She wouldn't have that. He only had one more layer than she did, and it would have been silly for him to be cold when the additional covering would have done little to ward off the chill anyway. It was bad enough that he'd made her wear his hat and scarf.

"So...three men..." Aaron continued with the profile they had compiled between them. "All between the ages of twenty-five and thirty."

"There are probably two leaders, but only one of them is the Sadist." Emily added. "The other one has a bit more control, which gives him an edge."

"The third is inexperienced...disorganized. He's R.G. He left his knife behind when they went after Elmer." Hotch pulled her closer when they reached a small incline. The rocks were half-covered in leaves, making it difficult for them to find their purchase. "He's probably the brother or close friend of at least one of the others, so he wasn't punished too severely, but he's going to be forced to play a role in the next hunt."

"This hunt." Prentiss reminded him, letting her steps falter so she could look up into his eyes. " _We're_ the next hunt."

Despite the chill that her words provoked, Aaron shook his head. "No. No we're not." He told her with a firm kiss to her forehead. "We're their biggest regret. They just don't know it yet."

A branch snapped.

It was from somewhere behind them...or maybe ahead of them?

The large area threw sound in way that made it impossible to determine the source.

Hotch practically lifted Emily off of the ground and pulled her in front of himself, wrapping his arms tightly around her frozen form. "It was probably and animal." The tremor in his voice negated his reassurance. "A fox or...or a raccoon. The sun's going down, more animals will be out."

Another crack. Then another. And another.

They were getting closer and they were coming from behind them.

The moment Hotch realized this, he gave her a small nudge urging her to go ahead of him. She would not be in back. He would do whatever it took to make sure that she was as far away from these assholes as possible.

Emily ran, but she didn't release the hold she had on his arm as they immersed themselves in the depths of the dark forest. The trees off of the path they'd been walking on were thin but close together. Their vines made it nearly impossible to remain upright, but with the adrenaline coursing through their veins, they were as agile as ever.

Laughter sounded out from the area they'd just been standing in, confirming that it had in fact _not_ been an animal coming up on them. Of course they had known that immediately. It just sucked that they were right.

They ran for what felt like hours. It was as though they were stuck in dream-mode. Running and running and running but not getting anywhere.

After the initial cackle from behind, there wasn't another sound from their captors. But they still kept going. They needed to get as far away as possible.

As they grew close to a clearing, just yards away, a low hanging branch nearly took his head off. He ducked, feeling the bark just barely brush his hair, before urging Emily to pick up the pace again. He must have made a noise that had alarmed her, but once she saw that he was alright, she moved onward.

Then another crack filled the air.

And time stood still.

Emily fell to the ground, crying out as she pulled him down with her. Her hand was clenched so tightly around his that he was sure a few bones snapped.

Once Hotch was able to regain focus, he began to hear the screams. The screams of pure agony. The screams coming from Emily.

She was hunched forward, clawing at the ground, and shouting at the top of her lungs. Her words were unintelligible-if they were even meant to be words in the first place-and her sobs hit him square in the chest.

"What? Emily! What is it?" He pulled her tense hand to his chest and moved closer to her. She was tense and not letting him pull her from her hunched state. He needed to see what was hurting her. Was she hit? Did they shoot her? He had never heard her cry like this.

Even when Benjamin Cyrus was beating the hell out of her, her agonized screams were nothing compared to the wails tearing out of her.

Finally, her muscles relaxed just long enough for him to pull her shoulder back, away from the knees held to her chest. "No...no...no..." She whimpered, attempting to twist away from him as he leaned over to examine her.

As soon as his eyes focused on it, he felt his entire body go numb. "God..." He choked, collapsing in front of her and staring.

Latched around her right ankle-just where it turned into her lower leg-was a bear trap.

A rusted, medieval, barbaric bear trap.

Emily was gripping his shoulders now, swallowing the next round of sobs before they could bubble out. "Get it off." She begged looking up at him desperately. "Pl...Please...get it off!"

Hotch nodded and maneuvered himself so that he was crouching over the trap-studying it with every bit of his brain that wasn't screaming. Unlike the ones that were still legal to be sold in Hunting Supply Shops, this one had jagged, pointed, uneven teeth that tore through Prentiss' pant pants and into her flesh.

Though there was a chain attached to the metal jaws, it had just been looped lightly around a nearby tree. The trap had obviously been set to hurt their prey, not to hold them in place.

"I can't see a release." He muttered, wrapping his fingers around the metal edges and attempting to pry the teeth apart. Of course they didn't budge. All he'd managed to accomplish was to further the pain that Prentiss was in. His stomach ached and his tongue tasted sour as she began to cry again. Leaning forward on his knees, Hotch took her face in his hands. "Baby, baby I need you to lie down. Please, just lie back and try to keep breathing for me okay?"

She whimpered and nodded, clenching her eyes shut as she let him lower her back against the muddy ground.

Once he was sure that she was situated, Aaron continued his exam.

The trap was old, he'd established that. It was rigged to leave a space before snapping shut, to avoid amputating the limb-this made him both furious and grateful. There was of course the chance that her leg could be spared after this. But on the other hand, she was trapped in the damn thing with a broken bone and blinding pain.

As much as he wanted to quickly fix this for her-take away every ounce of agony filling her body-he had to take his time. He examined the contraption, letting his eyes adjust as it slowly grew darker and darker.

Minutes past, and he finally allowed his mind to draw the conclusion he had been terrified of.

It wasn't coming off.


	6. Chapter 6

**More Minnesota Dialect in this chapter (and probably in the ones to follow). The ones speaking this time are almost feral and have lived in the woods their entire lives, so they have poor grammar on top of the accent. I'm not trying to insult Minnesotans in any way!**

 **I'm getting married in July, so if the chapters are posted further apart, that's why. After the honeymoon, I'll be all sorts of bored, so there will be a ton of stories then! If there are any requests, please let me know!**

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

The snowfall wasn't a surprise to them, but it was a major disappointment. Any sort of precipitation would ruin the tracks made by not only their Unsub's but by their friends as well.

JJ didn't want to go inside. She stood in the bed of one of the Ranger Pickups, staring at the blue and purple sky as the last remaining beams of sunlight wove its way through faded clouds. The ache she had felt in her heart the second she heard the news that morning increased tenfold when Rossi returned from the woods with a solemn shake of his head.

He had searched under every rock and log in the North Woods for some sort of sign. But the mud and ever-changing elements proved to be quite detrimental.

"I could barely see my own prints to follow back to the car." Dave muttered with defeat, accepting the water bottle she handed him with a short nod. "I'm just going to change."

She watched his retreating form, wondering what his plan would be upon returning-it was too dark to go back out into the woods. Maybe he would just sit with her and watch the dark tree line.

Because maybe with enough eyes on the ominous forest, Hotch and Prentiss would reappear.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

"Sweetheart, you need to keep going." His urgent voice was counteracted by his soothing fingers running along her forehead. He had moved them to a small canopy of a group of small maple trees that sat about twenty yards from the trail. Its red leaves had stayed in place despite the frigid elements.

At this point, rest was the most important thing. They were both exhausted and her agony had pushed them both over the edge.

Aaron absolutely hated seeing her in pain, but this was something else entirely.

Though she had stopped sobbing, knowing that it would draw attention to their location-she was smart, even when delirious. Instead, she busied herself with naming off all of the cities in Russia in alphabetical order. It had been a list she'd memorized when she was nine and staying at the embassy in Moscow. It had impressed General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev ("Leo" she had called him) enough for him to bring her into the EU Summit to recite it for his stone-faced colleagues.

Now, it was a hobby that was keeping her focused-keeping her quiet. She racked her brain, trying to remember where she had left off. What had she said last? She wiggled her tongue inside of her mouth-as though that would trigger some sort of History Mode and bring forth her latest words.

Deciding it was better to just repeat a few; she sighed and began to re-recite the G's. "Gad-Gadzhiyev-v-vo..." She whimpered, leaning her head back against his jacket. He had bunched it up on the damp ground to keep her elevated. If she were in the right state of mind, she would have scolded him for disregarding his own health. "G-Gagarin...Galich...Gatchina...Gavri-Gavrilov...Gavrilov Po-Posad."

With a tiny whimper, she tucked her chin until it was touching her collar bone and tried to yank her leg out of Aaron's grasp. He had torn a few strips off of the bottom of his flannel shirt and soaked them with the falling snow. Once they'd been saturated enough, he began to wipe off the skin around the teeth of the trap. He'd also ripped off the bottom of her right pant leg to gain easier access to the wound. That material was tied around the middle of her calve, acting as a tourniquet.

Praying to his God-as well as any others that might have been listening-that they would be found before her injury really took its toll on her; Hotch leaned closer to her leg in an attempt to properly treat her in the dark that had settled. "Em." He kissed her knee after a few moments of silence. "I need to hear your voice...please."

Not only did he need it to know that she was conscious, but he also needed it to soothe the ache in his chest.

"Gavri-Gavrilov..."

"You said that one."

"Gavrilov _Yam_." She lifted her head just long enough to throw him a small glare. "T...Two Gavrilovs..."

"My mistake." He made sure that she saw his contrite smile in the dull moonlight, before nodding for her to go on.

"Gay."

"Excuse me?"

"It's a city...In...In Orenburg." She let out a huff in a sad attempt to laugh. "G-Gay."

"Huh." Hotch stuck out his lower lip and shrugged. Deciding that her leg was as clean as it was going to get, he moved up to lay beside her on the ground. Resting his head on his palm, he stared at her intently while running a finger from the center of her forehead down to the tip of her nose. It was something he had always done when they were lying in bed at night. It never failed to lull her to sleep when she was restless.

And though he didn't want her to pass out from the shock of her injury, he would have loved for her to drift off into a peaceful slumber, despite their current situation.

Emily closed her eyes and rolled her head to the side, encouraging him to continue his actions. "Gdov...Gel-Gelenzhik...Glazov...No, no...Georgiyevsk an-and then...and then Glazov...Golitsyno..."

"Where's Golitsyno?"

"Mos-Moscow..."

"What's the population?"

"I don't...I don't know the current..."

"What was it when you were younger?" It was something trivial; he really didn't need to know. But Emily's mind-filled with endless supplies of information-was fascinating to him. Sometimes he wondered if her IQ could have rivalled Reid's, but she would never have admitted if it did.

She adored the young genius and would never dream of taking his status from him.

"About 16,000..." Her adorable brow was furrowed with both pain and concentration. "It's h-higher now."

"Mhm." Aaron kissed her cheek and rested his head beside hers-keeping his ear right next to her lips to listen to her breathing. "Go on."

"Gorbatov, Gor-Gorno-Altaysk...Gornozav-zavodsk..."

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

The team didn't sleep that night. They drove-two in each truck-through the woods, not caring if they got lost.

Reid and JJ-being the smallest-took an ATV out on the smaller trails. Spencer drove, while JJ held her gun in one hand and flashlight in the other. When she found these assholes, she was going to shoot to maim, but not kill.

Morgan and Rossi made their way to the deserted regions of the Northwoods. There were no Ranger Stations for miles, and the trees and brush were so overgrown that they needed a machete to make their way through it. A task that Derek would have normally found super awesome-if he'd been with Emily, he would have already made about twenty Indiana Jones jokes by now.

But given that Emily was the one they were searching for-Emily and Hotch-no jokes came to mind.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

As usual, the two of them were left behind.

They never wanted to leave their woods, but it was frustrating to be told what they could and couldn't do.

"Let's jus' go without 'im." Kirby crouched on the railing of the front porch and scanned the area. The truck had pulled away over ten minutes ago. Cousin had left at first light and would be gone for hours-he never returned in the middle of the day.

Younger brother, Rowan, shook his dirty head. "Can't screw it up again." He nibbled on the squirrel meat from the night before. It was cold and chewy, but not bad yet. "'e'll hitchya if screw up anudder one."

Rolling his eyes, Kirby snarled. "We're gunna lose 'em." He gestured to the fresh snow being covered by more falling flakes. "Dare Feds, Roh-on. Dey knoh more than the oh-thers."

Rowan stared at the animal bones between his fingers, making sure he'd cleaned it, and tilted his head to ponder his brother's words. Cousin would be even madder if they lost their prey. It hadn't happened yet, but when it did, he was going to flip. Huffing out a sigh, he tossed the bones aside and wiped his greasy hands on his pants.

"Fine." He hopped off of the railing and stumbled inside. "Lemme get my bow."

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

Aaron held her tight to his chest as he carefully made his way through the trees. They would avoid the trails now and move through the brush if it meant there was less of a chance of finding any more traps. Of course, severe thought and concentration went into every step he made.

He didn't know where they were going; he just knew they had to keep moving. Staying still wouldn't work for these men. From what the Forest Rangers had gathered, Allison Bryson had attempted to hide in the cave her body was found in, but her body was still mutilated. The Unsubs had the advantage of knowing every inch of these woods, so it was better to just continue roaming until either they wore their hunters out (which wasn't very likely) or they found civilization.

"Please," Emily's voice was quiet, but persistent. "Let me _try_ walking. I'm only slowing you down."

"Sweetheart, this is how fast I'd be going if I weren't carrying you." Hotch informed her, sitting her top half up a little straighter to avoid running her into a large branch. "Plus, you have a bear trap embedded in your bone. I don't want you walking for a few months."

When she woke from the three short hours of sleep she'd gotten, she informed him that she couldn't feel the pain anymore. "It feels like it's asleep." She had whispered, sitting up on her elbows and staring at the injured limb. "Nerve damage?"

Aaron didn't confirm or deny her assessment. He just scooped her up in his arms-placing the still attached chain in her lap-and began their hike.

They had been on the move since just past four in the morning and now, just over twenty-four hours after their abduction-they were starting to feel the faint tug of lost hope.

Emily's cheeks were flushed and they felt warm, almost feverish, so he knew that an infection was setting in. Her already alabaster skin had taken on an even whiter hue with splotches of purple and blue shooting out from her veins. She never once complained though. Other than her understandable breakdown the night before, when the metal had torn into her flesh and bone, she had yet to complain about it again.

Though this may have been due to fear. The longer they were out there, the worse her leg was going to get.

At nearly nine, he decided it would be safe to take a break. Surprisingly, he wasn't too tired. Maybe that was because protecting Emily was second nature to him, so his body wasn't fazed by the extra weight he took on. But he would have liked to just sit down and focus on her for a moment. She wasn't asleep, but she had been quiet for the past few miles and he wanted to keep her with him. It was not the time for one to lose their hold on reality.

He saw the log. The one just behind the rocks that would provide not only a good hiding spot, but also a comfortable seat.

Two steps, that's as far as he got before a high-pitched squeal whizzed past his right ear.

With an instinctive jerk of his head, Aaron curled Emily closer to himself as his eyes zeroed in on the wooden arrow freshly stuck in the trunk of a Juniper just a couple of feet ahead of them.

"What-?"

He heard the beginning of Emily's terrified inquiry, but anything said after that was lost to him.

Blindly, he dashed forward, deeper into the vast wilderness.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

Derek let out a growl as he dug his phone out of his pocket. "Yeah, this is Morgan!" He snapped, rolling his eyes at Rossi, despite the sunglasses hiding them.

The device had been vibrating in his pocket for the last half of their trip through the icy swap. The second he made it onto dry land, he decided to answer it and give the persistent caller hell. They had been up all night searching the labyrinth of a forest only to come up empty. His pants were soaked from the knees down and he had at least ten rocks in each boot. He was ready to become an Unsub himself.

He listened to the other end of the line with the occasional "uh-huh" and "yeah" before hanging up with a frustrated growl.

"What was that about?" Dave asked, hitting the 'unlock' button for the SUV parked down the path.

"Sheldon Ayers, the buddy of our first victim." Morgan paused, waiting for the older man to nod. "He's missing. Reid and JJ just went by to ask if he'd seen anything, and his cabin was completely torn apart."

"Could be a cover-up." Rossi shrugged, hopping into the driver's seat.

They had been here before: guy kills his friend out of rage and goes on a spree to cover-up and make it look like a serial killer. It was a tale as old as time in their world.

Morgan wasn't feeling it though and he made it known with his tilted head and a small hiss through his teeth. "From what I've heard about this Ayers guy, he doesn't seem the type. Why would he stay back after being cleared? He could have gone home and not even be a blip on our radar right now."

"Sadist." Was Rossi's matter-of-fact response. "He gets off on staying on his killing ground and watching the effect it has on the people here."

Morgan shook his head. "Nah man." He buckled his seatbelt and helped Dave check behind them as he slowly backed out of the trail and onto the main road. "That just isn't sitting right with me."

Never one to argue a man's gut instinct, Rossi nodded. It was rare that Derek Morgan was wrong about these things.


	7. Chapter 7

His lungs were burning and his legs were numb.

Stars and black dots swam about, clouding his vision and nearly causing him to collide with a large tree. He was able to slide away at the last minute, clinging to Emily like a man possessed.

For her part, Prentiss was keeping an eye out. She watched over his shoulder, describing the trajectory of the constantly flying arrows. Her vantage point was key to him finding what direction was best for him to go. She was the reason they had yet to be struck.

But their assailants weren't letting up. Though they weren't speaking-yelling and laughing as they had the night before-it was obvious that they were keeping up with the two agents. Their weapons weren't those of the long-range variety. They would have had to be fired less than one hundred yards away.

"Three o'clock!" Emily shouted when another arrow whizzed past their heads and embedded in the ground a few feet ahead. "Veer right!"

Without question, he obeyed. And sure enough, the following shot was nowhere close to hitting them.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

"A ranger from Eagle Mountain just went missing too." JJ announced when the two men arrived at Ayers' cabin. "He checked in for duty on Thursday afternoon, never checked out."

Morgan held his arms out in exasperation before placing his hands on his hips. "So they've escalated to _four_?"

"More target practice." Rossi reasoned with a shrug. He was going for casual, when in reality it was killing him to speak of two of his closest friends that way-as though they were just victims. "Someone messed up with the officer in the Northwoods. Maybe the alpha is making them work for it now."

JJ winced and rubbed her forehead. Despite running on less than an hour of sleep, she was shaking like a leaf. Five cups of instant coffee and a shot of some sort of energy drink Spencer gave her were coursing through her veins with adrenaline and fear. "Spencer's working out a map." She told them, nodding towards the cabin. "We're hoping to triangulate some sort of hunting ground by looking at all of the abduction and drop zones."

"Well, if anyone can do it, Reid can." Derek said, glancing around once more before stepping inside.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

Once he saw his options, he knew this was really going to hurt. But a bit of pain far outweighed a bit of _death_.

"One o'clock!" Emily's voice was strained from the constant shouting.

They had been fleeing for nearly fifteen minutes now. His legs were no longer protesting the rapid movement and though his lungs were more than likely somewhere in the woods behind him, he wasn't stopping.

"Aaron! One o'clock! Right, go right!"

"Hang on, okay?" He responded hefting her up higher in his arms and tucking his head as sped up even more.

If he gave himself just a moment to hesitate, they'd both be dead.

And before she could ask him what the hell he meant, ran over the edge of the cliff.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

The brothers stopped in their pursuit and stood up straight. Kirby wrinkled his nose and tilted his head.

"What the hell?"

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

Though Reid's process was in no way an oddity to them, they were still in awe as they watched him draw his last of many... _many_...lines on the old map of The Superior Forest.

"So, unfortunately, they have multiple hunting areas." The boy genius sat up on his knees and presented the project on the dusty cabin floor. "But whether they know it or not, there's a definite pattern. Of course, they have the advantage of knowing the terrain, but with trails and populated campgrounds, they're limited."

"But they have a good pick of prey." Morgan added rubbing his chin and focusing on Reid's work.

Spencer bobbed his head, only half-listening to what he already knew. "These victims are being dropped at these sites post-mortem." He pointed to the cave and other locations. "With the exception Richie Bartz, they were killed and then taken somewhere they'd be easily found."

The other three waited for him to continue. Reid didn't state the obvious unless he was leading up to something. And that 'something' was usually pretty damn helpful.

"This area is constantly changing. Each year, there's a new spot for people to discover. Recurring tourists will want to try a different trail when they come back to visit." Reid held up the logs he had received from each of the district stations. "Last year, Gunflint had a new campground that had a lot of foot-traffic, the year before that it was a backpacking trail in Isabella. There's no way to determine what area would be popular."

"Unless you live here." JJ pointed out.

"No, you'd have to work here." Reid stood up and craned his neck to look for Schrader. "Deputy!" He waved him over when he caught sight of him just outside speaking to one of his officers.

Reid picked the map up from the ground and spread it out on the table as the older man approached. "Sir, do any of your men live within the perimeters of the forest?" He asked, running his finger across the colorful paper.

"Oh, at least a dozen or so." Schrader shrugged. "A lot of them are single and on their own, so they just rent out the cabins on property."

"We're looking for someone who owns their home, or they live off the radar." Spencer clarified while circling a small area in red pen. "Specifically in this area."

The deputy's brows furrowed as he studied the map. "Are you thinking one of my men did this?" He wasn't accusatory or indignant. If anything, he sounded mystified.

"It's a theory." JJ said gently. "We can never rule out locals. Unfortunately, the Rangers in this area are the only regulars here."

Schrader cleared his throat and nodded. He didn't want to argue with that logic. Not with two of their agents missing and another one of his own. "Well, I don't know if any of them are homeowners" He said in quiet contemplation. "And this land is owned by the state, so they wouldn't be in the forest."

"Anyone live somewhere off the map?" Morgan asked. "They would be on their own mostly. He has accomplices, family maybe. They wouldn't work for the service, but they know the terrain."

At that, Schrader seemed to perk up and his eyes widened with retrospect. "Hunt...Um Robbe Hunt." He muttered.

"The Ranger who just went missing?" Rossi stepped forward.

Nodding, the deputy ran his palm across his mouth and sighed. "His uh...His dad was one of our officers back in the eighties. His team was hunting for a grizzly that wandered into the territory from Canada. Hunt went after the beast on his own when his partner wasn't keeping up." He closed his eyes at the memory. "His body was carried out in pieces."

"How old was Robbe?" Spencer asked, tilting his head.

"Nine or ten." Schrader pointed to a spot on the map. "We set him and his mama up in the old ranger station near the border. But after Mrs. Hunt passed, Robbe moved into town with his deadbeat cousins."

"Did he ever seem off to you?" Dave asked.

Shaking his head, Schrader held out his hands. "He was a nice kid. Even right after his dad died, he would come into the District Station and help out." He almost smiled at the memory. "I made him a Ranger before he even finished training."

"But his cousins?" JJ encouraged him to elaborate.

"They're idiots." The deputy let out a mirthless laugh. "Kirby hurt his leg in a boating accident when he was in high school so he used that to get out of ever having to work again. Rowan just never tried. They've been leeching off of Robbe for years."

"We'll need their address and the location of the cabin." Morgan pulled a notepad from his pocket and handed it to the older man.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

He had seen the lake right before he had made the decision to jump. It was only about a fifty foot drop into the murky green water and he knew how to position himself in a way to prevent any serious damage in the event that it was too shallow.

But he'd been lucky-they'd been lucky.

The moment they hit the surface they continued to plummet until the momentum of their fall faded and they were able to make swim up.

"You okay?" He asked as soon as his mouth was free of water. Immediately, he pulled her back into his arms and ducked his head to look at her.

Emily looked about with large eyes, still trying to process what had just happened. "Yeah!" She almost shouted it. "Yeah...Yeah..."

Aaron let out a breath and glanced up. As he'd predicted, their pursuers were nowhere to be seen. But they didn't have a lot of time. "Come on. Let's find cover." He whispered, pressing his lips to her wet head and closing his eyes. "They'll be back soon."

Prentiss, still a bit shocked, bobbed her head and allowed him to pull her to a group of rocks on the shore. They were in the sun while at the same time hidden by the cliff overhead, keeping them out of sight. "It's cold." She pointed out the obvious, wincing when he lifted her onto the closest stone platform.

Hotch let out a huff. "Yeah it is." He made sure she was comfortable before hurrying to find some dry sticks and leaves to make a small fire for her to lie by while she dried off. "Don't fall asleep okay?"

She almost wanted to laugh at the order. Just two minutes ago he jumped off of a cliff without telling her that there was a small body of water below to break their fall! Her hear was hammering so hard in her chest that she was positive the rock beneath her was vibrating. Of course, she understood that he couldn't tell her what his plan was when they were running and risk the Unsubs hearing him, but that didn't make the fall any less terrifying.

With an armful of brush and leaves he returned and knelt beside her. There had been enough covering along the edge of the tiny mountain to protect some of the ground from the recent snow and sleet, so he was able to collect just enough materials.

"My wonderful Boy Scout." Emily whispered with a flutter of her eyelashes and a dreamy smile. "There's no one better to be stuck in the woods with."

Hotch smirked and removed his shoe so that he could unlace it to make a bow drill. "At least I know I'm good for something." He cracked, winding the cotton lace around the ends of the straightest stick he could find and wrapping a second stick in the middle. "I haven't done this in years, so try not to laugh."

"Now, where have I heard that before?" She threw him a wink and suppressed another shudder brought on by a swift breeze.

Aaron, relieved that she still had her 'Prentiss Snark' could only simper as he continued his work.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

Schrader pulled up to the dilapidated cabin as Morgan finished his phone call. He looked to JJ as he slipped his cell back into his pocket.

"Hunt's house was clear." He told her. "Looks like it's been unoccupied for a while."

"Meaning..." Schrader raised a bushy brow and turned his gaze to the cabin.

"Meaning, we need to get to lookin'!" Derek pulled his gun from the holster and kicked the passenger's door open. He made sure that JJ was situated between the other man and himself as they made their way up the icy path leading to the steps.

The smell of mold and rotted meat permeated their senses the second they stepped onto the weathered porch. For the first time, Morgan was actually hesitant to kick down a door. It wasn't because he was scared of the Unsubs that possibly waited on the other side, but because of what hung in the windows.

If they had skinned animal parts dangling proudly on display, he really didn't want to know what they were _hiding_.

"Okay." He let out a heavy sigh and motioned for the other two to give him room. "Stay back."

They happily obeyed. JJ even went as far as to creep back down the steps to watch from the ground.

Using minimum force-the door was old and weathered-Derek lifted his right leg and slammed his heel into the center of it. As usual, it buckled on the first hit and fell inwards with a soft thud.

Though they had expected the odor to get worse, they couldn't stop their gags when they practically swallowed the wall of stench. "Oh hell no!" Morgan threw his arm over his nose and mouth and buckled over. "HELL no!"

Just when they thought that they could no longer be affected by the hellish nature of their job, they catch a whiff of the absolute _filth_ that the Hunt boys lived in.

"I'll check the backyard." JJ's voice was altered in an almost comic way with the way she was pinching her nostrils together.

"Uh-uh, girl." Morgan waved his hand and beckoned for him to go in after him. "We can split up. You know that!" Plus, if he had to face the nastiness, so did she. But he didn't bother bringing that point to light. She knew.

Torn between being abducted by barbaric serial killers and walking into their disgusting man cave, the blonde reluctantly chose the latter.

In the end, if it meant finding Hotch and Emily, she would walk through hell. And in this case, that was as literal as it got.

 **/\\\\\/\\\\\**

They got moving when the quietest of footsteps could be heard in the distance. It could have been a deer or a rabbit, but Aaron wasn't going to depend on the guessing game.

As if Mother Nature had decided to mock them, it began snowing again. Light flurries danced about in the very same wind that slapped against their damp clothes and hair. The small fire he'd built barely dried them off in the short time they were camped out on the rocks and Emily's shuddering form against his chest was tugging at his heart.

"What did you and Jack do last weekend?" She looked up at him with hazy eyes. She knew the importance of staying conscious as well as he did, but she didn't have the strength to say more than a few words at a time. She knew that she would never doze off when listening to him. To her that was on par with blasphemy.

Hotch grinned, just as he normally did when he got to talking about his rambunctious five year old. "I took him to see the new _Toy Story_." He told her. "Then we went to the new playground near the Mall."

Normally Emily joined them on their excursions, but she had her girls' night with JJ and Garcia the night before and she was still rallying at Penelope's apartment the morning after. She had met up with the Hotch boy's Sunday morning right before Haley picked Jack up. As usual, the sandy haired child was thrilled to see his 'Emmy'.

"Did you cry?" She rolled her head back on his shoulder to gaze up at him. At his furrowed brow, she clarified, "In the movie? Garcia said she cried like a baby."

"Well, since Garcia and I _do_ have the same emotional capacity..." Aaron teased with a small wink.

With what little trace of humor she had left, Emily let out a small chuckle before relaxing in his arms. She watched the scenery as the trudged through.

Trees of all colors, shapes, and sizes surrounded the pair, making for what would have been a beautiful hike under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, after this little adventure, she would never be stepping foot in the forest again.

A sound from just ahead-to their right-gave them both pause. Hotch froze mid-step and Emily latched her fingers around the chain hanging from her leg. She would use it as a weapon if need be.

For a moment, they waited. Nothing seemed to be moving in the brush and no birds flew about indicating a disturbance. "Be ready." Hotch murmured, his lips pressed against the top of her head. "We might have to take off again."

By _'we'_ he meant _'he'_ would have to take off again. She wished more than anything that she could run on her own, but her leg was no useless with the lack of feeling from the knee, down.

Just when they determined that it was an animal-right when they were ready to continue at a steady pace, a groan came from the same spot as before. It was a human groan of pain.

"Someone's hurt." Emily whispered, patting his chest with urgency despite the note of doubt in her tone. "We should check it out." She really didn't want to. She wanted to request that Hotch hurry past the producer of the agonized sounds and get them the hell out of there. But she still had a conscience. She still had a heart that would berate her until the end of time if she bypassed the Good Samaritan Routine.

His sentiments were about the same as Emily's. Agent Hotchner knew he had to help, while Aaron Hotchner wanted to run and never look back. In the end, the Unit Chief won-as usual.

Pulling her tighter against his chest, he walked lightly across the damp leaves, avoiding sticks and rocks-anything that could make a noise beneath his boots. In the event that this was another trap, he wanted to have at least _some_ element of surprise.

The moans were getting quieter, despite them getting closer and Aaron realized that the source was just as aware of them.

But when they rounded a group of trees, and the brush surrounding them, they found a man. Large and muscular, but non-threatening given his current predicament.

That predicament being his dangling from the low-hanging branch of an oak with a snare trap wrapped around his upper thigh. His face was red-matching the crop of hair on his head-from hanging upside down for what must have been a while. He was holding onto a lower twig, using it to pull himself closer to the trunk, as though it would hide him.

The stranger's eyes lit up when he caught sight of them. Realizing that they weren't the Unsubs, he released the twig and held out his hands. "Please." His voice was raspy, but desperate. "Please help."

Emily was already nodding when Hotch turned to her. This was simply another victim-whether he was an intended one or not. The trap could have been meant for them and this gentleman just got to it first. Either way, he needed to be cut down.

"Okay." Aaron whispered, setting her down on a fallen tree out of plain sight. He made sure that she was comfortable before turning back to the hanging man. "Okay..."

The snare was made with a thick rope. It was weather-worn and quite old, but it would have been impossible to sever with his bare hands.

Before he could ponder his options, the man pointed towards a bush less than five feet away. In the thorny branches, hung an olive green backpack. It looked as though it had somehow been flung aside when the trap was set off.

Moving quickly, Aaron snatched it up and began to unzip all of the compartments. With the man's guidance, he finally discovered a heavy-duty hunting knife. Its blade was sharp and serrated, making it the perfect tool for the task at hand.

"Can you pull yourself up?" Hotch asked the half-conscious redhead who at least gave it a try before shaking his weary head. "Okay, I can climb it." His words were reassuring, as though he were talking to Jack who had struggled on an extra tricky word when reading his bedtime story.

There were enough sturdy branches and knots in the lower portion of the oak, that he was able to maneuver himself up there with practically no problem at all. Of course, at his age, he didn't quite have the agility he had possessed at his prime, but he was capable nonetheless. It only took him about two minutes to climb the ten or so feet to the branch that their new friend was hanging from.

He glanced to make sure Emily was already before shimmying across the limb that had looked much sturdier from his place on the ground. The concern in his head was reflected in her eyes and that did not make the process any easier.

 _Well._ He thought with vexation as he quickly began sawing at the dense rope. _It's not like time was on our side before._

It didn't take long for it to start fraying, and when it was only attached by a couple of threads Aaron suggested that the man brace himself. Which he immediately did-curling himself so that he would hit the ground headfirst and relaxing the rest of his muscles.

Finally, the rope snapped and he fell fast but silently, hitting the ground with a thud accompanied by a quiet groan.

Hotch slid back down with as much grace as a clumsy kitten and hurried over to collect Emily. He was sure that this man wasn't a threat-otherwise he wouldn't have assisted him-but he wouldn't take any chances.

By the time the two agents were back on the path, the redhead was sitting up and removing the snare from his leg with little grunts of frustration. Looking up at them he nodded solemnly. "Thank you." He sighed, rubbing his thigh and wiggling his foot to test the circulation. "I thought I was going to die hanging upside down like a damn bat."

Aaron gave him a tight-lipped smile and jutted his chin at the backpack filled with hunting tools. "That's quite the haul." He kept his voice even, not accusatory but at the same time demanding. It was something he had perfected over the years.

"Well, as you can see my competition is pretty tough." The man pointed at the rope he had just been freed from. He clamored to his feet before actually assessing them with a steady gaze. It softened though when he saw the trap on Emily's leg. "Damn...I guess you really have seen it."

Prentiss lifted her head. "They're after you too?"

"I'm after them." He corrected her, hitching his backpack over his shoulder once more. "He killed someone very close to me. I want to see him bleed."

"Sheldon Ayers?" Hotch muttered, narrowing his eyes. Ducking his head, he reminded Prentiss quietly, "He was a friend of the first victim."

When they saw the large man bow up at his words, Emily quickly assured him. "We're with the FBI." She knew that JJ and Reid had spoken to him when they'd first arrived. He was aware of their presence in these parts. "The men who attacked your friend took us too."

Ayers' posture relaxed only marginally as he took in her words. " _Men_?" He ground out with furrowed, fiery brows. "As in...More than one?"

"We're thinking at least three." Aaron told him, keeping one eye over his shoulder. He wouldn't let his guard down until they had these guys.

For a moment, this news seemed to stun Sheldon. He rubbed his arm against his damp forehead and looked around as though he were working out a difficult equation. It was as if the spirit of Reid had taken over the behemoth before them.

When he finally came to whatever conclusion he was searching for, he looked between the agents with a toothy grin. "Well this just got a helluva a lot better."


End file.
